One of the new additions to Config Manager SP2 is native support of wireless access for managing clients with AMT.  Microsoft has built in support for configuring enterprise level wireless profiles such as WPA2-Enterprise.  These are wireless profiles that support RADIUS authentication using an authentication server to decide whether or not a given client is allowed to access the network.  Config Manager SP2 does not support wireless profiles that use pre-shared keys (PSK).  If you use security standards like WPA2-PSK/WPA2-Personal in your environment you will need to use the scripting framework tool to generate a script that can configure this option outside of Config Manager.

Mohan Veeramachaneni has put together several guides that explain how to configure the back-end RADIUS authentication components and access point configuration.

Cisco ACS

Configure Cisco ACS Server for Navigating Secure Networks with AMT/vPro

Microsoft NPS

Simple Configuration of Microsoft NPS as Radius for 802.1X - Part 1

Simple Configuration of Microsoft NPS as Radius for 802.1X - Part 2

Microsoft IAS

Step-by-step Guide for Navigating Secure Networks (802.1x) with Intel® AMT™ using Microsoft® SCCM SP1 & Microsoft® Radius (IAS)

Matt Royer has a blog entry that covers wireless profile management in Config Manager SP2.  The process he outlines is still the same in the release version of SP2.

http://communities.intel.com/community/openportit/vproexpert/microsoft-vpro/blog/2009/06/05/a-closer-look-at-sccm-sp2-beta-oob-wireless-management-wireless-profile-management

Key things to remember about wireless management with Config Manager

• Config Manager will not update a wireless profile that is currently in use.
• Config Manager now uses DNS entries to resolve client names.  You may run into a case where a client has switched between a wired or wireless connection and AMT is temporarily inaccessible due to delays in DNS update propagation.  DNS caching on your Config Manager server can also cause this to occur.  You can try running the “ipconfig /flushdns” command from a command prompt to clear the local DNS cache on your Config Manager server.
• Launching a Serial-over-LAN session over a wireless connection while the client’s OS is using that same connection will cause the wireless network to be cut off to the OS.

The Intel WS-MAN Translator build 568 has just been released.  The new features of this build included:

• Validated with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2
• Enhances legacy support for wireless profiles, 8021.x profiles, and 3rd party data storage
• Enhanced Kerberos authentication and Kerberos ticket handling

There are known issues and feature gaps with the previous versions (builds less than 568) of the Intel WS-MAN and Microsoft SCCM SP2.  It is recommended that customers upgraded to Intel WS-MAN Translator build 568 when upgrading to SCCM SP2.  SCCM SP1 customers will also see stability and performance increases by upgrading to this WS-MAN Translator build.

--Matt Royer

PROs002 class overview

Wired/wireless & Indepent of OS / Power state

*today is the announcement of SCCM SP2

Extending the wireless capabilities of SCCM

Config Mgr 2k7 features:

*setup & config

*discovery / inventory/audit

*remote console

* power control

*Bring vpro scenarios to your groups & collections – just making it part of your daily cycle’s.

“huge extension” in the out of band scenario

Power Management:

(site configuration, client relationship, collection based management).  Ability to do specific targeting to the client.

Help desk efficiency

·      remotely restart computer

·      interactive remote boot

·      remotely interact with bios

·      review core system HW inventory and audit info

3 Key messages for SCCM SP2

*Automate deployments

Increase Deployment reliability

Extend remote deployment scenarios to inpocrporate (reboot via id-r-reboot to PXE services.

Service pack 2 – MS SCCM

-       vPro integration

-       win7 enablement

-       Better together keeps ringing thru.

Here's what we have been waiting for..  SCCM SP2 - RC ready to go.

This information is based on Microsoft’s Release Candidate of System Center Configuration Manager Service Pack 2 and is subject to change.

There are several new features / changes that are coming with ConfigMgr SP2 related to AMT / vPro functionality.  As noted in previous articles, some of the more obvious changes are:

OOB Wireless Management: Wireless Profile Management

• Provide configuration of up to eight (8) wireless profiles per site that are available to AMT clients assigned to that site
• Set the wireless information during AMT provisioning and configure all required profile settings (SSID, key management, encryption, etc.
• Send wireless profile operations to the Intel translator on AMT systems with revisions earlier than 3.2.

End Point Access Control: 802.1x support

• Provision 802.1x settings on AMT wireless clients during AMT provisioning
• Send 802.1x settings operations to the Intel translator on AMT systems with revisions earlier than 3.2.1

Data Store (3PDS)

• Write string data into 3PDS on AMT through OOB management console

Access Monitor: Audit Log

• Enable or Disable Audit Log (no critical event settings)
• View Audit Log through OOB Console

Remote Power Management

• Power State Configuration

However, Microsoft has also made some more subtle changes between SCCM SP1 and SP2 to improve the end user experience that you may have not notice.

• In-band Provisioning attempt schedule:  With SCCM SP1, in-band provisioning was hard coded to initiate once every 24 hours.  SCCM SP2 now supports the ability to set the provisioning attempt schedule to a configurable value within the Out of Band Management Properties - Provisioning Schedule Tab.
• Handling wired and wireless contented clients with in-band provisioning:  To provision an AMT / vPro client with SCCM 2007, first stage provisioning must be completed on the wired interface.  With SCCM 2007 SP2, the wired interface information will be sent along with the AMT One Time Password (OTP) during agent initiated in-band provisioning.  Second stage provisioning can then occur over either wireless or wired interface (which one is resolved by DNS).
• Out of Band Provisioning disabled by default:  The ability to use Out of Band provisioning (provisioning through AMT hello packet initiation) is configurable and defaulted to disabled with SCCM 2007 SP2.  If you are using Out of Band provisioning, you will need to enable it after upgrading from SCCM SP1 to SCCM SP2.  This is configured on the Out of Band Management Properties - General Tab.
• Opening the Out of Band Console ensures an updated Kerberos token:  With SCCM SP1, occasionally you would run into a scenario where the Out of Band Management Console would attempt to connect with an expired or involved Kerberos token; this would prevent OOB Console from properly authenticating with the AMT / vPro Client.  This was common if you tried to connect to an AMT / vPro client immediately after an AMT client reprovision.  The Out of Band Management Console with SCCM SP2 now refreshes the Kerberos token to ensure a proper connection.
• AMT / vPro client provisioning prevented if Configuration Manager Client is blocked or not approved:  If an SCCM client is block or not approved within with the site server, SCCM will not allow you provision an AMT / vPro client.
• AMT PKI Certificates are revoked during an Update Management Controller:  If you have wired or wireless 802.1x authentications being used, SCCM will revoke these certificates and new certificate will be requested & issued.  As a clarifying note, the AMT TLS certificate used to secure the manageability traffic will not be revoked during this process.
• Power control available for collection execution:  SCCM SP2 now allows the execution of an AMT power control on an entire collection just by right clicking on the collection and selecting Out of Band Management -> Power Control.  Previously with SCCM SP1, you were required to multi-select all the clients in that collection to perform the same function.
• Serial over LAN (SOL) requires manual initiation with the Out of Band Management Console:  With SCCM SP1, when you opened the Out of Band Management Console, the SOL session was automatically started.  In SCCM SP2, you are now required to open and close the Serial over LAN connection via a new button or with the new Tools menu option.
• IDE-Redirect Log renamed: What was previous known as the System Audit Log in SCCM SP1 within the Out of Band Management Console has been renamed to IDE-Redirect Log.  This was done to allow the AMT Audit Log to assuming that name.
• Working with AMT Data Storage: Within SCCM SP2, you are now able to interact with the AMT / vPro 3rd Party Data Store through the new button added in Out of Band Management Console labeled Data Storage.  Note that the data storage is limited to ASCII characters and length of 4096 bytes.

--Matt Royer

This information is based on Microsoft’s beta release of System Center Configuration Manager Service Pack 2 and is subject to change.

Within the SCCM SP2 beta, Microsoft has included support for AMT Audit Log.  Audit Log was introduced in AMT version 4 and provides a mechanism to captures the occurrence of significant AMT events and who performed those actions.

Before you begin, you must configure SCCM SP2 on which AMT Audit Log events it turns on.  This can be done by selecting Out of Band Management properties under "Site Database" -> "Site Management" -> <Site Code> -> "Site Settings" -> "Component Configuration" -> “Audit Setting” Tab.

Unlike other AMT feature enablement with SCCM, Audit log is not enabled during Provisioning or through the Update Management Controller process; it must be performed as a post provisioning step.  To enable the AMT Audit log, you must right click on the AMT client and select “Out of Band Management” -> “Enable Auditing and Apply Audit Log Settings”.  You can also disable and clear the audit log from this menu as well.

Once enabled on the AMT Client, you can access the AMT Audit Log through the Out of Band Management Console available through right clicking on the AMT client and select “Out of Band Management” -> “Out of Band Management Console”.

--Matt Royer

Note: This information is based on Microsoft’s beta release of System Center Configuration Manager Service Pack 2 and is subject to change.

Besides extending ConfigMgr support for new Operating Systems (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows Vista Sp2) and Branch Cache (peer to peer content distribution), ConfigMgr SP2 significantly evolves their native support for AMT / vPro use cases and features.  As noted in the SCCM SP2 release notes, extension of the Intel vPro Technology support expands into:

OOB Wireless Management / Wireless Profile Management

·         Provide configuration of up to eight (8) wireless profiles per site that are available to AMT clients assigned to that site

·         Set the wireless information during AMT provisioning and configure all required profile settings (SSID, key management, encryption, etc.)

·         Send wireless profile operations to the Intel translator on AMT systems with revisions earlier than 3.2.1

End Point Access Control / 802.1x support

·         Provision 802.1x settings on AMT wireless clients during AMT provisioning

·         Send 802.1x settings operations to the Intel translator on AMT systems with revisions earlier than 3.2.1

Persistent Data Storage

·         Non Volatile Memory or Third Party Data Store (3PDS)

·         Write string data into 3PDS on AMT through OOB management console

Access Monitor: Audit Log

·         Enable or Disable Audit Log (no critical event settings)

·         View Audit Log through OOB Console

Remote Power Management: Power State Configuration

·         Enable configuration of the power policy settings and include in provisioning settings when provisioning an AMT system

If you are interested in taking a closer look at the SCCM SP2 beta build, you can get access to the download by going to https://connect.microsoft.com and signing up for access.

--Matt Royer